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End of Year Newsletter - 2006
(October - December)
November 2006 - Issue 1
In This Issue
Quick Links
Greetings!

Welcome to our first Space Control email newsletter. Now that more and more of our users have email, we plan to use this forum to communicate on a regular basis. We will pass along information about self- storage in general. We'll let you know what Microsoft has in store for Windows users. They have a new version, Vista, due out early next year.

We also want to keep you better informed about what we’re planning for NX.gen. We are currently beta-testing a new version that will be released in first quarter, 2007. It makes the whole system faster; puts the Bank Deposit in time order, and many other requested changes. A complete list of all the changes will be included with the update. And, we want to hear from you. There’s an email link at the bottom of the newsletter---if you have any questions or tips for other users, let us know. If you know someone else who might be interested you can forward this newsletter to them with the forward email link.

yellow pages
Yellow Pages are always an essential piece of self- storage marketing. But are you reaping all the benefits that you could from your Yellow Pages? Following are a few tips we've gathered from some experts in the field.

Additional listings:
  • Moving Supplies - People who are moving need boxes, tape, and other items that you probably sell. Plus, they often find that they need storage space, so if they've bought supplies from you, they will rent from you. (This listing might be under Boxes or Packing Supplies.)
  • Record Storage is a great listing. These renters stay about 8-10 years. And, when they start renting with you, they realize how handy you are and start storing lots of stuff besides records. (See also Business Records Stored, Office Records Stored, or Storage-Records.

Naming Your Facility: Try to choose a name that gets you one of the first three listings alphabetically. Be creative. For example, "Storage Ranch" is buried pretty far down and you may not get the calls. In some areas, "A Storage Ranch" will get you the very first listing. If you do this, also take a listing under "Storage Ranch" for people looking for you who don't realize your name begins with an "A." Lots of people look at your very expensive display ad. But, lots also go down the alphabetical listings. Don't call your business Zydeco Self Storage. Great music; bad name.

New Facilities: When you're building a new facility, get your listing in the Yellow Pages as soon as you can---even before you will be open. Yellow Pages play such a big part of customers finding your business (typically about 70%) that you don't want to chance being open months before the next book comes out. Get a phone number and put a recording on it that tells callers when you expect to be open---and any other good things they should know about your upcoming storage place.
sc disk
For those of you still using our DOS or Space Control II versions, (or for NX.gen users who aren't using all it's features) we wanted to tell you what's new in NX.gen. NX.gen (next generation) is the result of our 23 years in the storage business, input from our large customer base, plus the best of today's technology. But, frankly, there's so much in this newest version of Space Control that we couldn't get it all in one issue. So, we'll do part of it this time and more in the next issue.

  • Email: Reports can be automatically emailed to one or more owners/managers. Letters, invoices, and account ledgers can be emailed to customers.
  • All reports, receipts and letters are archived so you can reprint them anytime you need to.
  • Use Microsoft Word to create your own letters, receipts, and invoices.
  • Each space on multiple-space accounts has it's own ledger and can have a separate paid-thru date.
  • User IDs and passwords let you restrict what users can do as well as know who did what.
  • Set up discounts and the rules for them. If you have a move-in discount, users can only assign it during a move-in; if 12 months prepayment is required, it can only be used after 12 months is paid.
  • Print your own leases or fill in preprinted leases.
  • Crystal Reports lets you download reports in 16 different formats.
  • Batch payment makes entering all those mailed-in checks a breeze.
  • And, now, we even handle petty cash management.
question-mark
About the Move-in Quote in NX.gen? When you have a potential customer who wants to know what it would cost to move in on some future day, NX.gen will calculate everything for you and allow you to print or email the quote. Go to the Utilities menu and select Move-in Quote. Then select the day that the customer plans to move in, the size, and discount and insurance if they apply. You can then print the quote to hand to the customer or, if he is on the phone, FAX or email it. This is especially helpful if you charge rents on the 1st of the month because NX.gen does all the prorating for you automatically.

Have a great holiday season!
ramona
Ramona Taylor
Space Control Systems, Inc.

phone: 1-800-455-9055

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This email was sent to rtaylor@spacecontrol.com, by rtaylor@spacecontrol.com

Space Control Systems, Inc. | 206 Providence Mine Rd. | Suite 118 | Nevada City | CA | 95959